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Autopsy: San Antonio student legally drunk when shot by police

The Associated Press

Posted:
03/21/2014 12:37:27 AM MDT

SAN ANTONIO (AP) - A San Antonio university student killed by a university police officer was shot five times, including a fatal wound to the upper back, during the altercation last year, according to an autopsy report released Thursday.

The autopsy on University of Incarnate Word student Robert Cameron Redus also showed the 23-year-old had a blood-alcohol level of .155 percent, nearly twice the legal limit of .08 percent, and showed trace amounts of marijuana in his system, the Bexar County Medical Examiner's Office reported.

University police Cpl. Christopher Carter stopped Redus after seeing him drive erratically near campus, according to an offense report by police in Alamo Heights, near the San Antonio campus. A witness has said Redus was scuffling with Carter when he was shot Dec. 6.

Carter told investigators that Redus resisted arrest repeatedly, grabbed his police baton and began hitting him until he retrieved it from Redus, Alamo Heights Police Chief Richard Pruitt said.

Carter said he then drew his gun and warned Redus repeatedly to stop or be shot, but then he opened fire when Redus charged at him with arms raised, Pruitt said.

Carter fired six times, hitting Redus in the left eye, upper chest, left elbow, right hip and upper back. The report does not indicate the sequence in which the wounds were inflicted, but the back wound was judged the most immediately lethal.

Carter remains on administrative leave pending the results of an investigation by the Texas Rangers.

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Redus' family members have said they understand Redus was resisting arrest, but they contend he was initially cooperative and question the justification in shooting an unarmed student.

"We continue to wait on justice to be done," a family statement issued Thursday concluded.

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